A international team of astronomers led by Université de Montréal has made an exciting discovery about the temperate exoplanet LHS 1140 b: it could be a promising “super-Earth” covered in […]
Spitzer
![Mass–radius diagram of confirmed exoplanets with mass and radius precision better than 3σ and 10σ, respectively. Planetary parameters (black dots) are taken from the NASA Exoplanet Archive (https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu), and updated to October 2023. HD 73344b is represented by the red dot. The red arrow represents the upper 10σ limit on its mass. Composition models calculated from Aguichine et al. (2021) with a core mass fraction of 30% and various H2O mass fraction (from 10% to 80%) are represented by coloured lines (see text). Composition models calculated from Lopez & Fortney (2014) for a 1 Gyr-old system, Teq,b ∼ 900 K, and an envelope mass fraction fenv = [1, 2, 3, 4, 5] % are shown in gray. For comparison, the relation for an Earth-like composition (32.5% core, 67.5% mantle) from Brugger et al. (2017) is shown by the green dashed curve, and some solar system planets (Venus, the Earth, Uranus and Neptune) are displayed. -- astro-ph.EP](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/A-Low-mass-Sub-Neptune-Planet.png?resize=1200%2C719&ssl=1)
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gas Giants, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
A Low-mass Sub-Neptune Planet Transiting The Bright Active Star HD 73344
Context. Planets with radii of between 2-4 RE closely orbiting solar-type stars are of significant importance for studying the transition from rocky to giant planets.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astronomy & Telescopes, Biochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Interstellar, Origin & Evolution of Life, Panspermia, Status Report
On The Origin Of Infrared Bands Attributed To Tryptophan In Spitzer Observations Of IC 348
Infrared emission features toward interstellar gas of the IC 348 star cluster in Perseus have been recently proposed to originate from the amino acid tryptophan.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Constraining The Formation Of WASP-39b Using JWST Transit Spectroscopy
Understanding the formation history of planets is one of the goals of studying exoplanet atmospheres. The atmospheric composition of planets can provide insights into the formation pathways of planets. Even […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Mapping, Geodesy, Cartography, Bathymetry, Press Release
JWST’s First Spectrum Of TRAPPIST-1 b
In a solar system called TRAPPIST-1, 40 light years from the sun, seven Earth-sized planets revolve around a cold star.
![[L] The planet radius histogram showing the radius gap at ∼1.8 Earth radii. The blue and red lines are kernel density estimations of the smoothed underlying distribution and identify the location of the radius separating the two planet populations (∼ 1.8), and the peaks of the two planet populations at 1.5 and 2.4 Earth radii. -- astro-ph.SR [R] The XUV flux received by planets compared to their gravitational potential in order to determine the possible atmospheric escape process following the method in Salz et al. (2016). The rapid hydrodynamical escape process applies to the left of the red dashed line. Slower, Jeans escape applies to the right of the blue solid line. Markers are crosses for planets above the radius gap and circles for planets below the radius gap. -- astro-ph.SR](https://i0.wp.com/astrobiology.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/ExoplANETS-A.png?resize=1200%2C712&ssl=1)
Posted inAI - Data - Apps - Cybernetics, Astronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Press Release, Stellar Cartography
ExoplANETS-A: A VO Database For Host Stars And Planetary Systems: The Effect Of XUV On Planet Atmospheres
ExoplANETS-A is an EU Horizon-2020 project with the primary objective of establishing new knowledge on exoplanet atmospheres. Intimately related to this topic is the study of the host-stars radiative properties […]
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Revealing H2O Dissociation In WASP-76~b Through Combined High- and Low-resolution Transmission Spectroscopy
Numerous chemical constraints have been possible for exoplanetary atmospheres thanks to high-resolution spectroscopy (HRS) from ground-based facilities as well as low-resolution spectroscopy (LRS) from space.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report
Constraints On Atmospheric Water Abundance and Cloud Deck Pressure in the Warm Neptune GJ 3470 b via CARMENES Transmission Spectroscopy
Observations of cooler atmospheres of super-Earths and Neptune sized objects often show flat transmission spectra.
Posted inAstrochemistry, Astrogeology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Press Release
Neon Readings By Webb Prompt New Thinking About Planet Formation
Observations by the MIRI instrument on NASA’s Webb telescope are providing new clues about the time window when planets can form around a young star.
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
New Mass and Radius Constraints On The LHS 1140 Planets — LHS 1140 b Is Either A Temperate Mini-Neptune Or A Water World
LHS 1140 b and c are two small temperate exoplanets transiting a nearby M4.5 dwarf. The planetary system was observed with multiple facilities since its discovery in 2017, including MEarth, […]